I can not tell you much about the aqeon bulb but as for the difference between the Zoo med and the Phillips. Well that I can from what I have read and my experience.

The Zoo med bulb will have more light intensity then the Phillips. In other words its a little stronger bulb. On my 29 gallon I run these bulbs for that intensity to help with the plants on the substrate. If I run household lights such as Phillip or GE (the brand I can get locally) on that same tank my plants struggle to survive. I do run GE daylight bulbs on my other tanks but they are not as deep as the 29 and work just fine.

rexpepper651

10-23-2013 12:24 PM

how deep is your 29 gallon?

Agent13

10-23-2013 01:16 PM

I have the ultrasun ones on my 55 and my 16. Both are fast plant growing tanks. No issues whatsoever and the 16 has been running forever. I used to have the aqueon one on the 16 and my 72(I think:-?) . The zoomed one works better from what I can tell however for whatever reason I never bothered to run the solar meter under either of them.. and would be useless on the bulb on the 72 since it's older , and really I can't say for plant growth in that tank since it's the African tank.

I'd just say the ultrasun is better.. by how much I can't say

rexpepper651

10-23-2013 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Agent13
(Post 3268489)

I have the ultrasun ones on my 55 and my 16. Both are fast plant growing tanks. No issues whatsoever and the 16 has been running forever. I used to have the aqueon one on the 16 and my 72(I think:-?) . The zoomed one works better from what I can tell however for whatever reason I never bothered to run the solar meter under either of them.. and would be useless on the bulb on the 72 since it's older , and really I can't say for plant growth in that tank since it's the African tank.

I'd just say the ultrasun is better.. by how much I can't say

i think ill give the ultra sun a try. its twice as much as i can get the common bulbs i have been using. growth with them seems to be a bit slow but still happening. crypts are going well and every month or so i notice new growth from the vals. just a little slower then i expected even in my dirt tank i expected a little faster growth. only thing i dont like is having to replace evry 6 months with the more expensive bulbs but if im going to get better results and make my tanks look better its worth it in the long run. thank you everybody. always veery helpful
!

Boredomb

10-23-2013 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rexpepper651
(Post 3268161)

how deep is your 29 gallon?

is 18" tall

Agent13

10-23-2013 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rexpepper651
(Post 3268737)

i think ill give the ultra sun a try. its twice as much as i can get the common bulbs i have been using. growth with them seems to be a bit slow but still happening. crypts are going well and every month or so i notice new growth from the vals. just a little slower then i expected even in my dirt tank i expected a little faster growth. only thing i dont like is having to replace evry 6 months with the more expensive bulbs but if im going to get better results and make my tanks look better its worth it in the long run. thank you everybody. always veery helpful
!

It's not imperative or exact. You can stretch it out a little longer. I currently have a different zoomed light on one of my dragons that is still reading decent at almost 8 months. It's decreased but not enough worth replacing yet..but soon.

rexpepper651

10-23-2013 03:55 PM

ahh so this would be good for my crypts and anubis on the bottom my tanks a bit higher. yeah i can see prob differ between bulbs even how an when they should be changed. even same brand an stuff one bulb could need changing before another. im tryin it! and some of this high rated flake food. :)